There Is NO Excuse

If Rush Limbaugh inspired violence and he has been on the air for a good 20 years, don’t you think there would be a trail of blood that led to his door-step? Perhaps the far left needs to read the ADL profile of Loughner.

No matter what is said, there is NO excuse for Jared Loughner’s actions. There is NO excuse for his parents pleading ignorance the way they did today in their pathetic statement:

Their pathetic statement is not what the blogger “Cholla” has to say about the story:

“…Jared Loughner, pronounced by the Sheriff as Lock-ner, saying it was the Polish pronunciation. Of course he meant Scott or Irish but that isn’t the point. The point is he and his office have had previous contact with the alleged assailant in the past and that is how he knows how to pronounce the name.

Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Amy Loughner is a Natural Resource specialist for the Pima County Parks and Recreation. My sympathies and my heart goes out to her and the rest of Mr. Loughner’s family. This tragedy must be tearing them up inside wondering if they had done the right things in trying to manage Jared’s obvious mental instability….”

Have you ever known a family dealing with paranoid schizophrenia? I have. I have an acquaintance who has been dealing with this with a child since the person was the age of the accused. This person is now in her forties. I have heard the story, done the prayer list, and have listened to this person, sometimes on a weekly basis, detail the extent of the trials and tribulations the afflicted will put both themselves and their family through, sometimes on a daily basis.

Now pundits are agonizing over the poor treatment the mentally ill receive.

“…If the evidence continues as it has, the obvious questions are these: How can we more aggressively treat mentally ill people who are becoming increasingly disruptive? How can we prevent them from getting guns? Do we need to make involuntary treatment easier for authorities to invoke?

Torrey’s book describes a nation that has been unable to come up with a humane mental health policy — one that protects the ill from their own demons and society from their rare but deadly outbursts. The other problem is this: contemporary punditry lives in the world of superficial tactics and interests. It is unprepared when an event opens the door to a deeper realm of disorder, cruelty and horror….”

I know people who deal with family members who are mentally ill. It is a daily trial. They are well aware of the problems their family members are experiencing. If Loughner’s friends knew he was scary and dangerous, where the heck were his parents, Randy and Amy Loughner?

UK Telegraph

According to Tuesday’s night Greta, Loughner’s father caught him removing a black bag from the trunk of a car. He called out to his son, who ran away on foot. The father then went after him in a car. We are told that Loughner arrived at the shopping center parking lot in a cab. Getting a cab in Tucson is not exactly like getting a cab in NYC. You must plan and wait for one. It’s a sprawling western city. Cabs are not common nor frequent.

If Loughner’s father was concerned about his son, why did he not call the cops?

“...The discoveries came amid the first news on Mr Loughner’s parents, Amy and Randy, who have not spoken publicly since Saturday’s killings. They have barricaded the front of their bungalow.

“They are very devastated about the whole thing,” a neighbour, Wayne Smith, told local radio.

“She’s in really bad shape and we’re hoping we don’t have to take her to the hospital. He’s a mess. They can’t talk without breaking down and just crying,” Mr Smith said, adding that he had broken news of the killings to the Loughners on Saturday as they returned from grocery shopping.

Mrs Loughner “almost passed out”, he said, while Mr Loughner “sat in the road” and cried.Mr Loughner is said to have been unemployed since Jared’s birth. Neighbours described him as reclusive and aggressive. Mrs Loughner works for the Pima County Department of Parks and Recreation….”

More:

“…The Journal reported that Mr Smith said Randy Loughner was reluctant to face the public. He is not believed to have worked since his son’s birth but his wife had a steady job. The paper, citing people familiar with the case, said the parents had told investigators that they had not realised the full extent of their son’s mental health problems. Mr Smith told the paper that he did not know the couple’s last name until this weekend even though he had lived across the street since 1972….”

It will be interesting to see what psychologists make of the entire family. It is quite obvious this is a very troubled family. If the above is to be believed, Randy Loughner has not worked since his son was born. They have lived in the same location since Nixon was re-elected.

What are the family dynamics?

Randy Loughner is portrayed as aggressive and reclusive. It is entirely possible the family dynamics are so poisonous the parents might not have been cued to the son’s mental illness because they had so many problems. Then again, when a person has had several arrests for illegal substances, and the parents are called to a meeting at his college where they are told he must undergo a mental health assessment before returning, they should have some sort of clue.

How does this family function, financially? Is Amy the soul support? We have not been told that Jared had a job. How did he survive? Was the father on disability?

The Pink Flamingo has two friends. The first is an expert in firearms. He was telling me that the Glock Loughner purchased would be perhaps $500 or so new, and maybe half that used. The gun would be small and could be concealed. It is a military gun.

My friend said the one thing he wished to know is if the gun had a laser sight. He said it would make a difference in one thing: It would allow an inexperienced or unskilled shooter to be more accurate. He is also interested in the fact that Loughner was able to get off so many accurate, what he called “head shots” in such a cool manner.

I was told for a person to do this, they had to be very cool. To be in the situation Loughner was in, only someone who was not psychologically stable could pull it off so dramatically. He would also have needed practice – a lot of practice. Like he told me, it would be easy to hit the desert and do that without a witness.

His question: Who taught Loughner how to fire with such accuracy and where did he practice?

The Pink Flamingo has quite a few friends in Arizona. I spend a bit of time there each year. One of my friends is a nurse in the mental health field. Several years ago, while we were visiting, I was given the procedure for a mental health evaluation in another county besides Pima (and no it is not Cochise). The charge triage ER nurse has the authority to authorize a 2 week assessment of anyone who is taken to the ER. There must be suspicions of a very serious problem, but from what I was told (several years ago) someone like Loughner would warrant such a confinement.

There was a system in place for Loughner’s parents to get him help. Instead, they chose to deny a problem existed. There are several reasons people do this. It could be financial, then again it could be fact that the stigma is such that many times people wish to deny such a problem exists.

The Pink Flamingo is left with another observation. Why is the family being treated far better than other families are treated? The press is treating them with kid gloves.

Where is the investigation into Jared Loughner’s background?

We know next to nothing about him.

Is this because the family could be Democrats?

Is it because delving into the background will not help further the media agenda?

Then again, is it because the Democratic sheriff in Pima County blew it?

Something is going on here, something beyond face value. All I do know, is by now, in a “normal” situation we would know everything there is to know about the Loughner family, probably more than we want to know.

Why are they being sheltered?

One thing that The Pink Flamingo decries is the fact that there are those who wish to sweep mental illness into the background. A family gets treatment for someone who has cancer. They get help for a cardiac problem, and just about any other affliction. Why not get help for a mental illness?

There is talk about humane treatment for the mentally ill…..

What about their victims?

I have a friend who thinks Loughner did this for fame. As an expert shooter and gun owner, he cannot fathom the evil inside a person who would deliberately target an innocent child.

Perhaps the real problem is the fact that as a culture we do not like to accept the fact that evil exists. The bottom line here is that Jared Loughner is evil. The Pink Flamingo suspects his parents knew their son was seriously disturbed. If so, and they did nothing, they are a culpable as is their son.

This is evil.

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One thought on “There Is NO Excuse”

Politicians are using this unfortunate tragedy to further their own freedom stealing agendas, boost their polls and salvage their political futures. One nut case goes on a rampage and turns the whole country upside down. Now, Rep. Jim Clyburn wants reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, Pima County Clarence Dupnik blames Rush Limbaugh, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy wants stricter gun laws, etc, etc. Instead of uniting the people they are doing nothing but divide for the purpose of controlling. The shooter was not influenced by right wing commentators, but was a left wing zealot, who admired Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez and Mao Tse-tung. Perhaps the liberals just can’t accept the fact that one of their own did the killing. It goes back to the old motto, “if at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie, lie.”

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SJ Reidhead (aka The Pink Flamingo) is a writer based in New Mexico. The author of two published novels, both westerns: Dust Devil and The Second Mrs. Earp and two published works of non-fictions: TRAVESTY: Frank Waters Earp Agenda Exposed and A Church for Helldorado, Endicott Peabody's 1882 Tombstone Diary. One of the leading authorities on the life of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone during the Earp years, she is currently writing a series of murder mysteries set in modern day Tombstone. The author is also working on a book about fashion in the Wild West. When complete, there will be over 2100 unpublished antique photographs dating from 1855-1910.

The author's work has appeared in Wild West, True West, Blogcritics, and The Tombstone Times. Recently the author has had to deal with a father who succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. This is leading to a book dealing with the frustrations of dealing with the frustrations of the disease, finance, legal, health-care, and things no one bothers telling families about it. She is currently working on a murder mystery series set in modern day Tombstone and Cochise County. Several books of essays on Christian living are currently in edits. A book of essays and revisions of articles about Wyatt Earp has been completed and will include her latest work detailing her theory about the murder of his second wife, Mattie.

SJ Reidhead has been involved in Republican politics since she was 'a little kid'. During the Reagan years she was a lobbyist working with various non-profit organizations who were attempting to salvage NASA and the American space program after the disastrous Carter years. In spite of ups and downs, and numerous disappointments, politically, it is obvious the only political hope for this country is via the Republican Party. Along with politics she is an opera fanatic, has been known to stalk baritones to the point of being a baritone junkie, and loves baseball.

The Pink Flamingo went on line on October 4, 2005.

THE PINK FLAMINGO STORY

It started out as a joke. During the seven years I worked with the girls of my parish, leading a youth group, one of the things that I stressed were manners. Part of having manners, the way I see it, is to know how to set a proper table, host a party, cater it, and clean up afterward. I was fortunate enough to have a group of very talented girls in my youth group. They learned how to plan for, and execute large church functions, very properly. During one such function I noticed there were several incredibly tacky pink flamingos sitting on the table. Knowing the girls were up to something, I said nothing. A few months later they did the same thing at a function I was hosting at my home. I said nothing. They had a birthday party for me. More pink flamingos appeared - and a joke was born.

Thanks to the girls, all of whom are now grown, I have a collection of pink flamingos. It has become an ongoing joke. When I began working on my political blog, I realized the only possibly title was The Pink Flamingo!